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Saturday, 21 January 2017

PARADISE ON EARTH IT IS TO SEE

Until now, I only knew this about the Czech Republic: SS
Normandie, one of the fastest ocean liners of the 1930s, had a rudder made by Skoda
Works, of which the car company was a part. Therefore, I was glad to come
across something that ordered me to look further.

In September 2016, I heard the government of the Czech
Republic had decided to officially adopt “Czechia” as the short form of the
country’s name, to be used in everyday life, much like “United Kingdom,” “Great
Britain” and “England” are used to substitute for a much longer name. More
information is available at the Czechia Civic Initiative’s website www.go-czechia.com

This adoption actually took place six months earlier, but was
really only reported in the UK when a British Government committee, the
Permanent Committee on Geographical Names, advised all British people to start
using the name.

The reasons the Czech government gave for adopting “Czechia,”
chiefly to avoid confusion on what the short name for its country actually is,
indicates the need for odd-sounding committees. “Czechia” has also been updated
on the United Nations’ databases of country names, and is listed under the ISO
3166 standard for country names, which is something that exists.

I originally scoffed upon hearing “Czechia.” Hearing it for
the first time (and then finding “Czechia” has been used on an off since the 19th
century), the suffix “-ia” is used by so many other countries, including neighbouring
Slovakia, it sounded too easy to add, especially when you consider the “utopia”
described in the Czech national anthem, “Where Do I Live?”

Because corporate rebranding also exists, we are used to accepting,
and rejecting, new names. The general store Wilkinson rebranded as “Wilko” in
2015, but it sounds too “matey” for me to take seriously. There was also the
unanimous rejection of “Consignia plc” as the name for Royal Mail in 2002,
after just fifteen months, because it tried to convey trustworthiness by using
a made-up Latin-sounding word.

The main aim of “Czechia” was achieved very quickly – people
were talking about Czechia. It is a country of actual Bohemians, and Moravians,
and Silesians. It is the birthplace of Franz Kafka, Jan Svankmajer, Antonin
Dvorak, Martina Navratilova, the arc lamp, the modern contact lens, the term “robot,”
the A-B-O blood groups, pilsner beer, and the sugar cube. It is one of the
happiest countries in Europe, and Prague is the fifth most visited city in
Europe.

Most importantly, however, is the Czech Republic being both a
medieval and modern country - Bohemia was part of the Holy Roman Empire, but Czechia
has only been an independent country since 1993. “Czechia,” as a name, is
rooted in the Slavic tribe that resided in Bohemia from the 9th century, while succeeding
as a very modern branding exercise. No matter how long “Czechia” existed as an
option, it still reminded its first modern president, the writer and philosopher
Vaclav Havel, of independence from Slovakia, which he initially opposed, in
addition to “crushed slugs.”

The next time I am likely to come across Czechia, as a
country, will be in the Eurovision Song Contest in May – I will keep an eye on
which name they use.